Obama Guts Work Requirements of Clintorn-Era Welfare Reform #tcot

Friday that House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp and the Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee Orrin Hatch sent a letter to HHS Secretary Sebelius Thursday expressing “deep concern” about the memo and demanding a legal reasoning behind the guidance by Monday. “Simply put, if Congress had intended to allow waivers of TANF work requirements, it would have said so in the statute,” the pair wrote. “Instead, Congress did the exact opposite and explicitly prohibited waivers to section 407 work requirements among other sections of the Social Security Act.” Robert Rector, The Heritage Foundation’s senior research fellow on domestic policy and Katherine (Kiki) Bradley, former associate director of the federal TANF program and Heritage fellow further postulated that the new directive signals an end to the 1996 reforms. “The new welfare dictate issued by the Obama Adminis...